October, 1920 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 



witness many changes in our packing 

 house methods, although it is doubted 

 if they will revolutionize this depart- 

 ment of the apple harvest as have the 



changes of the past ten years. Prob- 

 ably the changes will chiefly consist 

 in a perfection of our present equip- 

 ments and methods. 



Utilizing the Fruit Crop of the Northwest 



By W. H. Olin, Agriculturist Denver & Rio Grande R.R., Denver, Colorado 



THE Northwest, in- 

 cluding Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, Idaho and 

 the Bitter Root Val- 

 ley, Montana, has de- 

 veloped into our Na- 

 tion's best fruit bas- 

 ket. Here fruit is 

 graded to a nicety for 

 color, size and qual- 

 w. h. olin ity. When a grower 

 gets into the Skoo- 

 kum class he knows he is at the head, 

 for it is one of the highest grade ap- 

 ples grown in the U. S. A. When his 

 butters, jellies and jams are incor- 

 porated in Farmer Paul's large and 

 growing family of these delectables, 

 he knows he has reached the present 

 acme of quality. Now comes Mr. Cal- 

 kins, of Hood River, with a scheme of 

 furnishing fresh cider ad libitum to 

 any consumer without violating any 

 state or national law on beverages. 

 Mr. C. J. Calkins has developed a pro- 

 cess of condensing cider to a syrup 

 without giving it a cooked flavor and 

 this cider syrup can be put into bar- 

 rels, kegs, tins or bottles as the trade 

 may desire. It will, in the syrup stage 

 keep an indeterminate length of time. 

 The work of Mr. Paulhamus at 

 Puyallup, Washington, with bush 

 fruits, whereby not only the berry 

 crop is conserved, but such a quantity 

 of butters, jellies and jams come to 

 market, it is said that this valley has 

 an annual income surpassing that re- 

 ceived by any other valley of similar 

 size in the United States. 



Friends let us have a first hand con- 

 ference with our standing organiza- 

 tions and plants not well understood 

 or known. So that your readers can 

 check up on me, Mr. Editor, we shall 

 give names and locations. 



Let us first begin with the work 

 Professor C. I. Lewis is now doing. 

 As professor of horticulture, at Ore- 

 gon Agricultural college, he did a 

 very strong work. As associate editor 

 of Better Fruit and the American 

 Fruit Grower, Prof. Lewis has been 

 read widely. But the greatest work 

 this man has done he is now doing. 

 He is organization manager of the 

 Oregon Growers' Co-operative Asso- 

 ciation. His plan is to organize Ore- 

 gon fruit growers to not only sell 

 their fresh fruits co-operatively, but 

 also to can, to evaporate and to other- 

 wise conserve the by-products of the 

 fruit and vegetable business. August 

 1, 1919, this Oregon Growers' Co-op- 

 erative Association was started with 

 134 members controlling the output of 

 3,000 acres. September 1, 1920, the 

 association had 1,500 members with 

 28,000 acres signed up. There are 

 now ten packing plants in as many 



different communities. These are 

 standardized plants all using the same 

 machinery. The advantage of this is 

 apparent. Ninety-five per cent of the 

 green fruit sold represents a commun- 

 ity pack. The present cost to the 

 grower for this centralized pack is lc 

 per box. A careful, uniform inspec- 

 tion system is maintained. For each 

 type of fruit, there is one uniform 

 grade, pack and container. This tends 

 to make trade calls stable. This as- 

 sociation plan of work is on the basis 

 of helpful counsel in selection of farm 

 fruit plans, to anticipate a one fruit 

 plan in any one section and such a 

 distribution over the territory, as 

 shall give a bush and tree fruit, well 

 adapted to each district; selection of 

 the type that more nearly meets mar- 

 ket demands and does best in a given 

 region. 



The association also renders helpful 

 suggestions in cultural methods, helps 

 assemble harvest help and after har- 

 vest, directs the product to market. 

 It takes more than one swallow to 

 make a summer. We must give the 

 Oregon Growers' Co-operative Asso- 

 ciation a chance to prove their ef- 

 ficiency. Let us go to the oldest as- 

 sociation now going in the Northwest. 



A Co-operative Association That Spells 

 Success. 



"Olin," said Prof. Lewis, you can 

 not afford to leave the Northwest 

 without visiting the Eugene Fruit 

 Growers' Association. There is the 

 most complete plant in this whole 

 Northwest region." 



We found it even so. This associa- 

 tion was organized in January, 1908, 

 with 94 stockholders and $5,000 cap- 

 ital stock. Today it has 685 stock- 

 holders and a paid-up capital stock of 

 $72,160. It has had a continuous ex- 

 istence, a definite plan and purpose 

 from the beginning. This association 

 handles as large a percentage of the 

 fruit in the fresh state as possible for 

 its stockholders. 



To protect its stockholders on con- 

 tainers, this plan has a box factory. 

 In 1919 this department cut ap- 

 proximately one and one-third million 

 board feet of lumber into boxes. The 

 green fruit department sent out 32,944 

 boxes of apples and pears. The ice 

 and cold storage department not only 

 furnishes ice and storage for the fruit 

 products but supplies Eugene city 

 with its ice supply. The canning de- 

 partment of the association put up 

 80,000 cases of canned goods last 

 year. All vegetables suitable for can- 

 ning as well as fruits are utilized. This 

 department is of vital importance to 

 truck and bush fruit farmers of this 

 district, encouraging diversified fruit 

 and vegetable farming. The drying 



department is one of the largest in the 

 Northwest and the association is able 

 to direct the planting of vegetable 

 and bush fruits so as to have a con- 

 tinuous supply. There is some prod- 

 uct canned or dried each month in the 

 year. This makes business for the 

 association so it can maintain its force 

 of labor throughout the year. The 

 vinegar department makes from 25,000 

 to 30,000 gallons of vinegar each sea- 

 son. There is practically no waste. 

 Whatever the grower has to offer is 

 taken, if the manager feels certain it 

 will sell for enough to pay cost of 

 manufacturing into a salable article. 



The fruit remains the property of 

 the grower. When the commodity is 

 sold, the cost of manufacture and sale 

 is deducted and the growers gets the 

 rest. The association carries out a 

 system of financing the growers when 

 in need of money for growing and 

 harvesting their crops. In turn, the 

 association at times, borrows consid- 

 erable amounts from the grower 

 stockholders. This plan is quite 

 unique and most serviceable to both 

 the stockholders and to the associa- 

 tion. 



It takes a good manager with a good 

 business head to make this scheme 

 both sound and serviceable to both 

 parties. Mr. J. O. Holt, the secretary- 

 manager, is peculiarly fitted for this 

 position. The writer does not know 

 what salary he receives. Whatever it 

 is, he is competent and earns every 

 dollar he draws. This illustrates why 

 this co-operative plant succeeds. It is 

 due to its sound business policy, its 

 universal support in its district and its 

 efficient business manager. Otherwise 

 it would not have its full 12 years of 

 successful operation when so very 

 many of the co-operative fruit associa- 

 tions in the Intermountain region, 

 founded upon a similar plan, have 

 gone to the wall. One thing more 

 permit us to say, about one division 

 of this association's work. The evap- 

 orator run by this association at Eu- 

 gene City, is reported to be the largest 

 in Oregon. It has 49 tunnels, holding 

 about 4,500 trays, and its capacity is 

 1,000 bushels per day. It was built 

 for evaporating prunes, but it is also 

 used, in July, for loganberries, and 

 late in the fall, for apples and wal- 

 nuts. The spray plant of the asso- 

 ciation furnishes the lime, sulphur and 

 other spray material, already mixed 

 and ready for use. It is furnished to 

 association members, at cost to the 

 plant. Seeds, tools, fertilizer and 

 boxes are likewise furnished at cost. 



Dehydration Plants of the Northwest. 



The writer found in the Northwest 

 three different concerns, each claim- 

 ing a superior process for abstracting 

 all but a minimum amount of water 

 from fruits and vegetables without 

 breaking down the cellular structure 

 of the treated product. 



Mr. A. F. Spawn claims to have been 

 the first man to conceive of a com- 

 mercial plan for taking water out of 

 fruits and vegetables in this careful 



Continued on page 33. 



